This invention relates to a holding device and has been devised particularly though not necessarily solely for use in holding beverage cans which are necked at one end.
It is often convenient to assemble a group of articles such as beverage cans into a batch or group for ready transportation or storage. One method of achieving this is to put the articles into a box or tray or provide a full wrap about the articles. Such methods are wasteful of packaging material.
Attempts to reduce the amount of required packaging material have been made. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,414,313 and 3,075,799 to Schwartz and Weiss, respectively, each show constructions which engage the top of a can. However, each construction requires a substantial width of space to fold the holder onto the cans. Also, the particular constructional method used means that the technique cannot be extended to multiple rows of cans.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,245,711 to Dantoin shows a construction which can receive multiple rows of cans but requires complex folding of the holding material to achieve its result.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,653,503 to Federal Paper Board Company describes a construction wherein the tops of cans are held by a sheet material pushed downwardly between two rows of cans and at the edges of the sheet. The package is held in this position by a cover formed by end panels which are folded over the top of the cans and parts of the holding device engaged to the cans. The construction is however disadvantageous in that substantially space is required on each side and above the assembly line to accommodate the movements required of the end panels.
Furthermore, the large area of packaging material introduces complexities into handling.
Plastics packaging is available in the form of interconnected rings of plastics material having some stretch. While such packaging has found wide acceptance it too is disadvantageous in view of the long period required for discarded packaging to degrade plus the possibility of wild life being often fatally trapped or choked by the rings of material.